Topic: Vesper's Vignettes

Vesper Fey

Date: 2010-03-18 14:22 EST
A Position

The door slid shut behind me, I so wished it had been an ominous booming sound of finality, but no, I was to be disappointed in the theatricality of our endeavors.

Arkon... his name teased me. I bounced it around inside my mind like a child with a new ball. A fascinating creature of boundless ambition and unbordered talent.

To stay and learn beside him. I had no such intentions when I had first felt his touch. I had no need of a place. Sweet sleep had doctored my perceptions.

But now I felt a calling. To stay here and ...teach. And to learn. Such is the role of teachers, to gain knowledge through the lessons imparted.

My specialties I had kept to myself, but his keen perceptions left me doubting that I maintained as many secrets as I thought I might have.

I would be Groundskeeper for the Institute.

My connection with the natural elements combined with my knowledge of the Glen allowed me this permanent position.

Such a silly word permanence, nothing is permanent after all.

I giggled, a cackling hiccup of insanity as I danced down the garden path to my Grove.

I should be busy this eve. And it felt good to be so.

Vesper Fey

Date: 2010-03-31 09:13 EST
I had felt the evil permeate from them. The gathered. There was something there. Something powerful and dark. Something I could almost taste. Their's was a hinted contract, a level of connection.

I wanted in. I had once sold my essence to the Unseelie for power; yet, this power that I sensed from those who called themselves Shaitan tempted me as much if not more.

Ambition was a hard bitch. A cruel taskmaster. It rode me like it owned me. A creature of burden to its mastery.

I immediately offered my assistance to the Sierene. Yes, my purposes were mine own, but she had need to travel to the Unseelie Courts. And this I could provide, that and a careful scrutiny of the promise she sought to give to the Queene. I assisted in making the agreement as ironclad as possible with the loopholes so squeezeworthy as to be nonexistent even as I cautioned her that nonexistent was something that didn't appear to bother the Unseelie, they always found a way to manipulate those foolish enough to bargain with them.

I also made myself available to the Institute. I would train these students of the Mastema. I would submit myself to his teachings.

I sought to ingratiate myself. To prove myself. I wanted in.

When I heard word of the creatures that devoured magic I immediately sought to gather information about them, to warn the Mastema of the threat to his precious children. It was there in his office that I met a few of the other members of the Shaitan.

I watched as they consulted their means of information. From enchanted cards, to whispering shadows, to the words on the streets and in the dueling circuit.

I watched and waited for my opportunity to emerge.

Vesper Fey

Date: 2010-04-06 12:31 EST
The students had been quiet. Made moreso by the newly inputted rules and restrictions.

Until such time as the Mastema deemed safer the students were to stay at the Institute. Curfews were being strictly enforced for their own safety. For some reason the creatures did not travel in this direction and they never crossed the river that separated the school from the surrounding area.

This infuriated me.

I was unhappy with this indictment. I wanted to chase these creatures of interest. I wanted to discover more about them.

I considered my tenuous position. I considered the amount of attention upon me.

I considered the perfect bait the students would present to the creatures.

And I made my decision.

Now to simply convince one of the younglings that their greatest desire was to leave the safe confines of the Institute so that I could simply appear to have followed them out of concern.

I watched them as they gossiped and chatted in the cafeteria. Finally alighting upon the perfect candidate. A soft spoken young lad who ate by himself and had made little in the way of friends here. Wasn't he an orphan of some kind?

Hmmm... none would miss him for awhile.

I summoned him to my cottage. I might have lied a little in my encouragement that the answers to his outcast position in the school could be eased by the simple tonic to be discovered in a flower that grew where last I had seen one of the hound headed beings.

It was time to learn more about these creatures, after all it was for the benefit of school to discover as much as we could.

I watched him as he struggled to grasp my meaning and smiled in growing glee as he made preparations to depart.

To gain knowledge was always a blessing that came with a cost. But such a small cost this one.


Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right. ~Laurens van der Post

Vesper Fey

Date: 2010-05-05 09:40 EST
I paced the lip of the pit above the sleeping dog-headed magic-eater. He was such a gorgeous moppet, "My sweet vishussssss" I purred.

It was a miracle I had caught him with all the hiccups in my path.

I was embarking upon my plans when that infernal...infernal elf had interrupted.

The chance encounter in the woods sent the young man packing back to the Institute long before I could establish him as bait. Frustrated I had informed the elf that she would take his place and with a bit of coaxing and manipulation I had succeeded in winning my way.

Only to then have the Lightning Witch decide to launch herself directly into my path.

But it had gone beautifully as such wrought things usually do. The warrior had demonstrated how to kill the beasties and the drain on Tiatari had proven her mettle in such a situation. Additionally I believe the Infernal Elf had discovered a real fondness for having a blade returned to her hand.

I hummed to myself as I considered how intricately decadent things were turning out. I had my pretty, and I had gained insight that I planned to use most definitely to my advantage.

The Dark Mage wished to expand the reach of his Covenant into the dueling circuits and Tiatari wished to meet her requirements for dueling with a warrior at her side. L'loris had just rediscovered the joy a blade brought.

Yes, I would deliver upon the Dark Mage one of his desires and continue to prove myself worthy.

A hungry whine growled up from the pit.

The Covenant would notice my gains, "Yessss my visshussss, It is time to feed you." I could barely contain my shudder of pleasure at the thought.

Vesper Fey

Date: 2010-11-25 01:05 EST
I was not thrilled.

Students were everywhere.

Pouring in like roaches when someone flicked on the light.

I snarled and growled to myself as I danced naked before the flames of my bonfire.

What, naked?

I looked down at myself to discover that I was not naked but dressed in a giant snake skin that I had discovered shed after the visit of the Unseelie.

Hissing, I spun about and cavorted in mad ecstasy.

After my latest mishap I had been approached by the Headmistress regarding my unfortunate loss of a student. She did not go so far as to reprimand me as much as she encouraged me to see to my student's well-being in the future.

I hissed out a laugh. It was not by accident that I had lost that Earth Elementalist's life.

Oh no, it had quite been by design.

Giggling maniacally I finished my ritual, turning to face the cooing Denubae and spreading my arms wide in celebration.

I would find a way to fully tame him and twine him to me. I so wanted him to be my familiar, but first I had to find a way to convince him to stop trying to eat me.

So far overfeeding him had kept him quite sluggish but I was not foolish enough to think this kept me safe.

Speaking of feeding him...he looked hungry.

Vesper Fey

Date: 2010-12-29 22:35 EST
I?d gotten the message earlier. Two little troublemakers on their way to me. The Deaconess did so despite being troubled with such things and the Headmistress was busy. Which left me.

I was at a loss. My form of punishment always left someone dead, normally on fire. So I summoned three owls and I imbued them with speech.

Their trite and tired answers offended me. So I ordered my basilisk to petrify them. And as I stroked his broad back it occurred to me that I needed divination and sacrifice. So I transformed my fingers into blades and sliced the throat of my sweet little basilisk. Heaving him up on my table I slit open his belly and pulled out his innards. I would divine my answer upon his entrails.

(From here the scene is adapted from live-play you can find it here in Dorm?s Life).

Vesper Fey

Date: 2011-01-09 14:45 EST
I was just getting ready to go and feed Preshuss when the little novitiate arrived upon my doorstep.

The aura that hung about her was difficult to decipher as I could see the ticking time clock of the Mistress of Shades and Shards all about her.

"Help yourself," I'd cooed to her unlistening ears. Shah was all about her, strangling her future and cultivating her path.

I was able to show off my darling Preshuss to her and found her appreciative and rightfully affright.

Had I gotten her name? I frowned as I picked feathers from my teeth. I couldn't remember for a moment. "Daewen." I clapped excitedly. "Daewen. Daewen. Daewen. Daewen."

I wouldn't be forgetting her.
(From here the scene is adapted from live-play you can find it here in Dorm?s Life).

Vesper Fey

Date: 2011-02-18 13:02 EST
I had been summoned away. At the height of my perfection I was brought to the attention of one Mistress Shah.

My Preshuss slept so peacefully. So sated. And the success of my manipulations was tucked away within my cottage.

I thought perhaps the Mistress of Shades and Shards was calling me for punishment and I was ready to inform her that no deaths had resulted from my plottings. But, no, it had naught to do with my Preshuss.

The reason for my summoning was the Sierene. The Underdark Excursion had seemingly ended abruptly and had revealed a connection the Unseelie again.

Those damnable Fae always playing in other people's toyboxes. Shame. Shame.

I was gone much longer than I would've wished. The business of the Shaitan a pull upon me that I gladly allowed to rein me off path despite my desire to see if my darling girl had taken. I would impress the Shaitan. I would join their ranks. Soon.

I returned some time later...to discover.

My Preshusss... MY PRESHUSS!!

Dead.

Gone.

Lost to me forever!

My pain knew no distinction from insanity and I screamed my rage to the very sky that had wept its tears of destruction upon my sweet. Initially I thought the cave-in an accident. His death a mistake.

And then the unmistakeable taste of arcane magic littered the air. I followed it. I found a lingering weight of it near my door. Something had been incinerated here. A message.

I did not dare enter the school in my heightened state. My need for answers would result in a massacre that would bring the wrath of Arkon Daraul down upon me.

Instead I sent the goblins to find my answers for me.

They returned with work well done and for their efforts I only skinned two of them.

I wore the face of their leader as I cavorted about my cottage in a mad dance of split alliance.

For I had great news to overlay my sadness. My Treasure had indeed taken. She now carried the child of my Preshuss. Giddily I spun about, crimson sprays of the slain dribbling down my face and neck.

And I knew who had delivered the message to my Woods. Who had most likely taken my preshuss from me.

I knew little of this Violette Rousseau. Only that she was the sister of one of the more notable students of the Institute. And, of course, that she would soon die a most unnaturally vile death. The atrocities that I planned to visit upon her brought me to a state of such gleeful rabidity that I fell into a convulsive fit of ecstasy.

Vesper Fey

Date: 2011-03-02 15:44 EST
I needed to keep an eye on My Lamb.

Yes, it would not do to let something happen to her. I caught myself falling beneath the watchful eye of the Mistress of Shades and Shard and knew better than to approach my fecund darling.

I felt from her direction naught but interest but worried that word would reach the ears of Arkon Daraul. The Dark Mage had made it evident that he was not pleased with my loss of the Earth Elementalist. I'd keep my meddling from him if at all possible.

But how best to keep an eye upon My Lamb?

I considered killing her familiar and placing one of mine choosing near her but didn't wish any grief or stress to fall upon her. I sought out the Mistress of Water and spoke at great length with her. We both agreed, for far different reasons, that My Lamb needed to be protected from undue stress.

I encouraged her to speak to the shapeshifter, as this was one that might be wary of my attention. But, the other, he did not know my involvement as far as I could ascertain.

He, I sent for.

Kish's timely arrival at my cottage spoke of his respectful nature.

Yes, he would do quite nicely.

Vesper Fey

Date: 2011-04-17 22:12 EST
He whistled as he made his way down my path. I'd grown used to it over the months. I'd also determined that he chose the odd habit as a way to bolster his confidence.

The mists that swelled around my cottage were deliberately enticed there and the path was oddly rutted, drifting in odd circuits and sudden abrupt twists. The overgrowth was thick and when a tree had finally succumbed to the sucking death of my presence and fallen across the path at one point, I'd left it there.

After all, I didn't want visitors thinking they were welcomed.

Kish had become the perfect confidante. I had carefully molded him to see me as nothing but concerned for Saphira. We had agreed to keep our joint efforts to see her safe to ourself. He knew nothing of my involvement in Saphira's condition; nor of my increased interest as she grew burgeoningly heavier with child.

At the revelation of twins I grew ecstatic and found it quite difficult to maintain the air of reserved interest. I'd ushered him out my door and cavorted wildly in my grove. So great was my delight I had sacrificed a great many creatures that night and bathed in their blood.

Now he came to me with concern hunching his shoulders. My darling was nearing her impending motherhood and I quivered with excitement even as he became burdened by worry.

I stood in the doorway of my cottage ready to welcome him within when the clock I had deliberately placed upon my wall released a full throated gong of warning. The hands arrived on 11:11 and from the mists they came...

Satariel Shah

Date: 2011-04-25 00:57 EST
From the darkness she emerged, a smudge upon the very soul of the world. Skittering forward on the terrifying gait of the inhuman she seemed to not move at all while jerking forward in a glide that left the searing after-image of her being.

At her side was the Dark Mage of the Shaitan, his decrepit figure clinging to his staff as he made his slow but steady way through the mists.

Kish swallowed hard, paling considerably at the sight of the Mistress of the Shades and Shards, as well as the Mastema.

Satariel made but one motion of her hand, sending the boy with the Dark Mage as she continued forward to the cottage to commune with the FaePact Warlock.

"Her time approaches." Kish shuddered as he realized that they must be speaking about Saphira. But the cottage door closed and left him in the mists with the Mastema...he had his own part to play after all.

Vesper Fey

Date: 2011-05-30 11:22 EST
My grief had been explosive. My rage a billowing dark death of a plague. So furious had I been with the words of the Dark Mistress that I had surrendered to a frothing apoplexy.

I lost weeks in which I roamed the groves and valleys that surrounded the school killing that which crossed my path.

I no longer cared about my desire to be a part of their precious Covenant. I wanted only to rain down my destruction upon them and I would've entered into a dark pact with the Unseelie to do so had I not been so shattered past cognizant casting.

Burrowed down in a hovel I had stolen from a pack of wolves, their blood caked and broken bodies littered the area in warning to any creature that would venture close, I had grown utterly debased.

As I lay there, patiently awaiting the next insect to brave near I chewed contentedly upon the remnants of the beetle that had trespassed.

Saphira's pups were mine. My precious had fathered them and for that I would claim them. If I had to make another pact with the Dark Courts to do it.

Vesper Fey

Date: 2011-06-07 18:42 EST
I had finally gathered enough of the shredded remnants of my mind to make the appropriate fealty.

The tree spirits had been difficult to trick. They had felt the dark bent of my desires and had avoided my delirium, it was only after I had discovered their sweet dryads that they had revealed themselves to me. The scorched remains of my example trembled in the wind as she lifted charred arms toward her tree in supplication, a blackened remnant of life. As the trees before me meshed together and dripped tears, I could not contain my cackling glee.

The temperature dropped. The cold bit at me but I paid it no mind as the tears of the sacrificed turned into a web of ice, crisscrossing between the bent limbs of the stricken dryads.

The portal opened on a blustering wind of snow and I stepped through it with no hesitation. I would bargain with the Baroness of Winterthorne Briar this eve.

Vesper Fey

Date: 2011-08-03 19:33 EST
The Commons

I tipped the skull upon my head at a jauntier angle and frowned as the giblets of flesh hung down in my eyes obscuring my vision.

Disgruntled I swatted at it, pulled it free and plopped it inside my mouth.

The students stared at me in horrified fascination as I chewed. I hit gristle, and the cracking sound of my molars grinding the bit of bone to powder seemed to upset a few of them as the petrification wore off. One student bolting with a retching sound.

I followed his path with curiosity and proclaimed, "Vomit has many useful properties in spellcasting. Especially carefully created vomit."

Two more students hastily backpedaled and left the room. I turned my gaze back to the few that remained and decided that this would be a perfect learning opportunity to celebrate my return to the School.

"Take for instance, a pregnant woman's bile. There is a potent level of ingredients to be discovered, especially if you've fed her wormbite. The mixture of blood with the natural essence of a--" I scowled as a student wove upon their feet.

And then excitement lit my features, "Are you about to expel your bodily fluids?" I skittered forward, the pungent smell of my unwashed body drawing a desirable greening of the young novitiate's complexion, "Are you pregnant?"

Wide and manic, my eyes settled upon her companions, "Quick, do any of you have wormbite upon your person?"

I was disappointed by their negative responses.

Scowling fiercely I castigated them quite severely, "What a sincere lack of foresight! Such unpreparedness will not see you succeed here at the school!"

Whirling away I stomped for the exit, the skull of the creature atop my head tilting precariously as I departed. "I will be at my cottage! Should any of you choose to redeem yourself!"

I snapped a gaze at a nearby Vaden, "Inform the Mastema and Deaconess that their Groundskeeper has returned!"

The door slammed behind me quite satisfyingly.

Vesper Fey

Date: 2011-09-11 10:59 EST
The Infirmary

Evahlys' normal composure was strained and frustration seethed from her pores as she turned to face the newest arrival, "Mistress Fey, is all well?"

Fear had constricted her heart at the sight of the feral little creature that was the Groundskeeper of the Institute. Calamity must surely be near for the Unseelie-pacted Warlock to make her arrival here within the healing sanctuary of her domain. Evahlys couldn't help but imagine dead and dying students littering the hallways needing her immediate attention.

"All is RosyBaboonButts," Vesper chirped and darted through the curtain to stare down at the student who even now whimpered and thrashed as angry red welts scored his skin.

Evahlys could not wrap her tired mind around the response, instead she sought to protect the student from the invasion of his privacy by stepping between he and the curious bundle of old rags and strange smells, "Mistress Fey, I'm sorry but he needs his rest, how can I help you?"

"Oh! Oh disaster! It looks like Scorched Lice!" Vesper crowed with glee at the sight of her success and allowed herself to be ushered backwards. All around the groans and dismayed cries of students carried upon the air in a delightful symphony of misery.

"Yes, yes, we seem to have suffered an outbreak of extreme proportions..." Evahlys frowned and turned to assess the growing volume of patients. Motioning to a nearby Vaden she urged, "Quickly now, I'll need Ashriel, Danilo, Ilyona and even that young Granger that Danilo is mentoring."

She tried to remember if there were other students who had demonstrated some healing talents when she realized she'd lost track of Vesper in that momentary distraction.

A scan of the room did not turn up the Groundskeeper and just when she was beginning to head off in search an enraged bellow shattered the stillness of the air. The reverberating quality of the sonic blast shook the very foundations of the walls, the sconces creaked and the lights flickered, students screamed, moaned, or whimpered in distress as all turned toward the door through which the sound had emerged.

Hooves slammed against the stone floor as the large shaggy head of Sartha appeared in the doorway. His giant eyes rolled in distress in the bovine way that is natural only to their kind. One large clawed hand raked through the tufts of blue-tinged fur along his massive arm as a snort blew out his nostrils wide and violently.

Evahlys changed course immediately.


***

The Scorched Lice were a vicious vermin and I had deliberately let the first infected vial of vengeance be dropped along Danilo's path. How dare that Cat-Man seek to keep me from my task? I would've also sent a vial to Brais and his Brat, but I was confused by our last exchange. Were they the ones responsible for the death of my Preshuss? I couldn't remember the outcome of our conversation and this annoyed me to no end. Immediately I decided to laser my enmity upon my Ambassador for surely it was her fault that I could not understand the latest rounds of diplomatic interactions? But, alas, I chose not to hurt my little doll. She was much too valuable now and the secondary infection of Scorched Lice was an inflammation of the brain, did I dare risk losing her over a moment of irritation? No, no, I decided to focus my attentions upon the Cat-Man who had denied me entrance and his Mistress for telling him to.

The infirmary had proven to be fertile ground for such nasty little insects and it had taken but one day to enact my revenge. Giddily I giggled as I skipped through the hall and arrived at the bedsides of my little darlings. Wide-eyed they looked seconds from bolting and I realized that the noises of the enraged minotaur had startled them. I scoffed, a wicked laugh of bemusement, "No no, my preshusses, you are much much to brave and strong to be bothered by the minotaur and his itchies."

Wise little eyes took me in, one filled with suspicion, the other with curiosity. I took no time to settle myself upon the floor between their beds. Fragile and delicate in appearance I knew I offered no sign of challenge, especially seated beneath them as I was. "Who are you?" One of them boldly demanded.

It was not hard to feign hurt as I strongly felt they should know of me, "It is I, Granny Vesper."

"Granny?" Whispered one of them as she shot a surprised glance toward her sister, for the storybooks that Alaric had read to them had included grandmothers and family members that they thought fictional.

"Yes yes. Granny Vesper. You father was my preshusss son. My darling boy... and you, you two are all that I have left of him." Tears welled in the moonlit eyes as I choked around the explanation.

One of the girls had descended from her bed to circle the Warlock, pacing around behind her and instinctively giving herself the advantage in their confrontation. The other remained silent, surprise rounding wide expressive eyes.

"Are we really your granddaughters?" Came the brave voice from behind her.

Vesper slowly grinned, sharp pointy little teeth visible as she recognized the thrumming need in the quaver hidden.

"Oh yes, my darlings, you are most definitely mine."